Hiraeth
by FallingNova
Summary: There are several things in life a girl should never have to stress about: Genocide, immigration, assassination, and certainly not that Inuzuka guy. Unfortunately for Kaiya, life has a different plan in mind.
1. Prologue

Kaiza stood rigid as a statue while he narrowly avoided vomiting.

An orange haze shrouded his village from view, snow hovering over the town as though it were massless fog rather than frozen flakes of water. This fog resembled bloodied spirits tearing at the ground, desperate to retrieve their lost bodies. Silhouettes of his family and friends marred the earth. Fear chilled him to the bone, numbing his entire body. The small bundle of game he had captured dropped to his feet and his arms hung to the sides of his body, not quite feeling as though they belonged to him.

A wooden beam fractured and an avalanche of brick collapsed, causing the poor soul to cower underneath his own arms. There was no one left; if only he had been there to stop this…

He launched the dead prey into the smoke and cursed this cruel winter. Kaiza couldn't have been there to protect them unless he were willing to risk their lives to starvation.

"Hiro." He whispered. Frantic puffs of breath escaped him as he willed his friend to appear. His hunting partner had only returned a few hours earlier than him, now he was alone. Kaiza's heart sank and mind raced; he should have made Hiro wait until they were finished clearing out the extra snares. They didn't need to split up, that's the reason they hunted in groups right?

Were there any survivors? Only the haunting crackles of fire answered and Kaiza forced himself to take a calming breath.

What happened to Hiro? His knuckles turned white as he braced for the answer. He would have to enter the terrifying reality to find out.

Who could have done something like this? The war was over! He pondered the question, but deep inside, Kaiza knew. There was one reason, hidden quietly in the storage of his brother's home.

After an unknown amount of time passed, Kaiza took his first step into the arctic graveyard. Snow began to race around him, pelleting his face as he trudged through. He was hypnotized by shock, unable to look away from the bodies half buried in snow. Many familiar faces twisted with silent screams, many were slashed across the neck and torso, some were burned into the ground with their homes. No one had escaped far before they were cut down by mysterious enemies.

If he were there when it happened maybe he could have stopped it, but their food stores were severely depleted. There wasn't enough to feed all of them, and traveling merchants hadn't stopped by for weeks. Their supply runners inexplicably disappeared a week ago and he'd finally conceded to the idea they had died somewhere along the journey.

The village could have lasted only several days longer by rationing, so Kaiza and the others needed to hunt. They'd go in several different groups, each gone for a couple days at a time, picking from the already desolate forest. When it was time for his rotation, he had no choice but to leave, even what little they brought home would be life-saving.

He couldn't have been there to protect them.

"Hello?" He called out hoarsely. "Hiro!" He braced against the intensifying wind as he sluggishly stepped inside where his friend's home used to be, now a skeletal pile of ash. The foundation cracked and moaned against each step, but he only hesitated once the wood warped downward.

Kaiza froze, deciding whether or not to turn back, but newfound hope triggered his inability to give up.

"Hey!" He cried out.

A trembling body stood several feet away from Kaiza but the floor gave in, sending them both through the shallow splintering ground. A log uncomfortably jammed into Kaiza's shoulder and he debated whether or not to just go to sleep. How easy would it be to just fall asleep and die? Fatigue from the uncomfortable campsite and extra hunting begged him to close his eyes and give in to the increasingly cozy burrow.

"D-Did you know?"

Kaiza's eyes shot open.

"Hiro?" He rasped, "What are you doing? What happened!" The sound of coughing was his only response.

Kaiza's threw his arms out of the sharp wood and he dragged himself from the floorboards. He placed his bloody hands firmly onto Hiro's shirt and pulled.

"Don't t-touch m-!" The man shook facedown into the ground.

"What are you talking about? You're going to die out here," Kaiza yelled, "Where is your coat? Hurry up!" He turned the fading man upward, but the face looking up at him did not resemble anyone he knew. It was a rabid animal, hatred seared into the pair of deep-set eyes and white foam froze onto it's cracked lips, "Did y-you know?"

"What? Did I know what?" He shook Hiro in and out of consciousness, but he could no longer speak. With the last bit of strength he had, he reached his frost bitten arm toward a particularly damaged house and he closed his eyes for the last time.

Kaiza slugged his fist against the other's face; but the man he'd spent most of his young life with had given up. They were about to survive! It was not fair to the others, but there was nothing else they could do. They would have been able to _spite_ their enemies by living!

Kaiza took several moments to silently apologize to his closest friend. This was all his fault…

He stumbled from the disaster toward the house where Hiro pointed: His brothers home. It was completely knocked to the ground.

So, the day had finally come.

Apparently they knew from the start something like this would happen. Kaiza didn't understand the risk before pleading with his family to rescue a certain woman so many months ago. A person that many others wanted dead.

They had rescued her and a newborn from an unforgiving winter storm and starvation; Yuki clansmen. More often called the scourge of their land, anyone with a strange manifestation of power: _Kekkei genkai_. He could not weep for his own men, but for the woman who lie in the streaks of her own cursed blood, he crumbled.

Kaiza nearly threw up again, but there'd been nothing in his spasming stomach to empty so he merely dry heaved in pain. Underneath the floors was a small room, where the woman's body laid. Her hair was black as the ash surrounding them, gray eyes wide open. Her misshapen corpse remained in a sideways fetal position but her head hung backwards, exposing a gash that nearly severed it from her body. Ice unnaturally spiked out from around her. His expression deadened. One of her icy projections cracked and collapsed to the ground and Kaiza lurched backward.

He observed the woman closely, unsure if he'd ever see another one like her again. This poor person embraced by death, Kaiza wondered if she had witnessed everyone's murder before her own. Perhaps she'd seen and felt responsible, maybe she let them kill her in the hopes they'd spare the others? Perhaps not. He only knew they were not inherently evil.

 _So where's the baby?_ Kaiza wasn't particularly looking forward to seeing the corpse, but it would save a lot of pain to resolve the question.

A very large furrow in the ground seemed to answer Kaiza's internal question. It started near the house and stayed as a perfect solid line in the snow as far as the fog allowed him to see.

He ignored the obvious idea of it being a trap. Based on his previous observations, he figured they thought no one was left to follow them. _Hopefully._

It only took Kaiza an hour of walking before he discovered several obnoxious noises deep in the stark white forest.

He peeked carefully over a hill near a trickling excuse for a river, and he saw them.

A quick flash of red-hot anger sparked inside his body before tallying them up. Only three people? There they were, three men were hacking at a large block of ice, miserably failing to reach the contents inside, which Kaiza could only guess was the other possible survivor of the assault. Yuki.

"Shit this block isn't breaking!" He hammered at the cocoon once more, not even earning himself an icy kickback.

"The kid is frozen solid." A fourth man spoke in startling proximity to Kaiza. _Dammit, four._ "The- Rat- probably just killed it before we got the chance." Hesitation emanated from every spoken word.

"You don't know that." The biggest guy of the group spat at the solid ice, "It could be protection."

"Yeah, when you want something dead, you better make sure the head is off its body…" A scrawny guy made a slicing gesture with his thumb against his own throat and cackled.

"Fuck me then!" The nearest man yelled out, "We'll just keep it! I'm sure it'll thaw out real quick right? It'll thaw out a dead-ass-worthless baby we spent all day killing."

"What's your problem?" Scrawny man chuckled.

He scoffed back at them, "Come on guys, this thing is over 100 pounds, lets just throw it down the river or something."

"You'd risk letting one of those creatures survive? I could kill you just for thinking that…" The mood turned sour against the fourth man and he gulped nervously, stumbling more over his words.

"Its just annoying- is all- I mean really. The kid's gonna die anyway. No food or air, the chakra in there isn't a never-ending life force." He pressed his defense.

"Can I knock his teeth out, boss?" Silence.

It sounded like a joke at first, but once the big guy nodded his approval the young man screamed out. "Wait!"

 _No!_ Shit!

Kaiza couldn't help wondering if this kid was just along for the ride by force, he almost appeared to be defending that baby.

Without thinking things through, Kaiza snatched at the branch in front of him and drew back, snapping the bark off and grunting with pestering fear. What am I doing?!

"Hey! What's that?" Kaiza covered his mouth but his jagged breathing couldn't be stopped, who in their right mind would surrender their hiding spot to these senseless men?

The three of them screamed out different threats, something about promising to end it quickly, or painlessly, though Kaiza knew it was only an attempt to save them the few minutes it would take to hunt him down.

It shouldn't be too tough to outsmart them right? Kaiza prayed and jumped out with his arms in the air, "Sorry! Don't attack just yet" A nervous laugh followed.

"Hm, this is too weird," Scrawny-guy laughed through the tension, "We must have missed you back at the nothing-town, huh?"

"Hey, he does sort of look like one of those other people," the big-guy agreed.

"You think I'm one of them?" Kaiza interrupted with a scoff and shook his head, "This is just great. I wasn't planning on getting involved but you guys sort of forced me to when you stole what's rightfully mine."

"Yours? Alright moron, I'd suggest turning around and walking your ass back to where you came from. That or you can stay and get carved like an animal. It's your call." They seemed to advance on Kaiza each moment he glanced at the ice block, turning around would be a death sentence…

"If I die you'll never get to that baby." He stood tall and confident, betraying his fear. Their eyes still held disinterest, but at least they quit advancing. He guessed he'd only get one more chance to hold their attention.

"I-I know how to kill her."

"Really," The weapon-guy leaned back on his axe. "This'll be good."

"I'm serious. You idiots got to that village before I had the chance to sneak in their house." _Rein it in, Kaiza,_ "I walked away for one second and you ruin the only chance I had! There's no way you're gonna get into that fortress now." Kaiza held his breath, begging himself not to close his eyes or fall to the ground. He had to hold onto some sort of dominance here.

"Oh yeah?" The boss-guy twirled a knife around his finger, "So how do you suppose we kill it?"

"I _was_ going to wait until they were asleep tonight, catching rats off guard is the fastest way to get rid of them." He caressed the surface of the ice, indeed seeing the clouded image of a child tucked away inside. _Please be alive._

"Now I've got all this bullshit to burn through. And we'll need a powerful fire-based shinobi, nothing else can break through this ice." The group of men stood silently, contemplating what Kaiza has said. He had very limited knowledge on the ninja lifestyle and hoped he could get away with what little he knew.

The scrawny guy piped up, "I know a couple of guys back in the mist village, you know, the one who made those bombs for the rat-lover's houses. I have a couple left here, lets blast them!" The weapon-guy swiped the precious bombs away from his comrade.

"You sure we can't just cut through it? I spent a lot of money on those things…" He asked toward Kaiza. _Good sign._

He needed to get them away from the ice soon, or else he won't get much farther than this.

"No. It can't be just any ordinary bomb, I've seen this kind of barrier before." The leader rolled his eyes.

"Listen to me carefully, I happen to have some connections; if we can get to them we'll find a real easy way inside." The boss-guy finally held up his hand.

"Just who are you, again? Are you working for somebody?" Their suspicious gazes worried Kaiza, it was time to get into character for real.

"I'm no one. Just trying to give back as much to the land of water as I can. Those kekkei-genkai rats were responsible for the death of my entire family." A couple of the idiots cheered.

"Yeah I hear ya on that! Fuck those rats."

"That must have been rough, you're still a kid yourself." Big-guy handed the knife to weapon-guy and walked over to Kaiza, patting the guarded man on the back.

Kaiza touched the man's shoulder with disgust, hoping to translate that into believable racism. "They stole my life from me, it's only fair to take theirs too, right?" He kicked over the block of ice, hoping the precious cargo was still safe. Strangely enough, the sympathy card won them over.

"Here, have a meal on us, you look starved." Fourth-guy offered.

"What were you even eating out there? The forest's got nothin'."

He sighed, "I dropped everything when I came back from hunting what I could. The scene disturbed me a little bit to be honest." Fourth-guy raised his eyebrows and Kaiza continued, "I almost thought it was the woman who burned down all those houses. Scared the crap out of me."

"We'll make sure you get your food back as long as you can help us get rid of this witch." _Rat_ and _witch? Real creative dumb-asses we've got here._

"I promise you, we'll get in there before tomorrow's over." Kaiza decreed.

xxx

Throughout the rest of the night, Kaiza kept their attention on him as best he could, guiding them as far from the ice-block possible. As they bunkered down to sleep, he summoned up the courage he needed to go through with his disheveled plan.

They hadn't fully trusted him yet to keep watch over the group so he had to stay up and wait until the designated watchman got distracted. Kaiza had managed to find a sizable rock and launched it into the trees, careful not to wake up the rest of the snoring bastards.

Fourth-guy, who he had planned this for, jumped with panic and held a knife close to his body as Kaiza quickly put his head down.

He muttered something Kaiza couldn't make out and could hardly believe his luck as the guy left the group to search for what the sound could have been.

He had to work quickly.

They had hidden away their weapons well so Kaiza unfortunately had to go with his back-up plan. Spending far too much time rolling the block of ice quietly to the group, he picked up the mass as high as he could and launched it over weapon-guy's head. It smashed in like a paper bag and Kaiza reached down for the axe underneath his body.

The friends woke up shortly after, of course.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

Kaiza screamed and smashed the axe down on top of boss-guy. Scrawny-guy ran at him from behind and knocked both of them to the ground. Kaiza's new weapon lay just out of reach as he felt his breath being stolen from him.

"You fucking rat-lover! I knew you were one of them!" He screamed and Kaiza saw stars dancing in his eyes.

Fourth-guy screamed and scrawny-guy looked away, briefly loosening his grip around Kaiza's neck. He was able to grab the axe and slashed at his neck, but Kaiza lost his grip and the sharp edge cut into his arms.

The fourth-guy was nowhere to be found and scrawny-guy held onto his neck violently thrashing his other arm at Kaiza. He got a few good swipes at his face but Kaiza felt no pain.

Scrawny-guy quickly lost consciousness and Kaiza wrestled with the idea of removing his head for good measure. "That's the only way to make sure something is dead, right?" But he was too exhausted to move and just had to hope that his consciousness was lost forever.

He hugged block of ice close to him, trembling against its frigid roughness. Then he slept.

Kaiza awoke shortly after with a start and jumped to his feet. No sign of fourth-guy anywhere. He must have run away for real, having no real loyalty to the crew, just as suspected.

He observed the large block of ice closely seeing if he could find the child still inside. He wasn't surprised to find her still snuggled in the ice but there was something off about the block. A large crack happened right down the center with smaller ones spiderwebbing from the main line. _What is with this ice?_

Kaiza chipped away at the already broken block all day long and managed to pull out a frozen child once the sun finally set. _So she really is dead_. He fell to the ground and sobbed hopelessly, demanding what all of this was meant for. Normally Kaiza was a firm believer in everything happening for a reason, but this was all senseless death.

He cradled the child in his arms, desperate to warm her back to body temperature.

He fell asleep again.

Somewhere during the middle of the night, the weakened man smiled. Paternal instincts fired through him as this was the first night he heard Kaiya cry.


	2. Chapter 1

Hiraeth - A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter 1

 _I am so sick of girls._

Kiba Inuzuka had a lot of respect for women, for the most part. He kind of had to since he'd been surrounded by them his entire life. His mother and sister were female, his sensei and teammate were female. His girl… person he'd slept with, was female. But damn, they were annoying.

Ami gave him that look again, that judgmental glare and curling lip. He thoroughly regretted escaping the disaster with Hinata today. He'd much rather face those girl problems now than come here to meet a distraught "cuddle buddy". If she weren't crying already he'd probably blurt out every insult he'd thought of for her. Instead, he took a moment to disconnect from reality and observe the woman in front of him objectively. Her oval face was framed by some of the softest hair he'd ever ran his fingers through. Her red rimmed eyes were a deep shade of violet like the smooth locks of her hair. Her lips pursed only for a moment, never wasting a chance to release outrageous accusations of- Betrayal?

He leaned in to kiss the salt off those lips, cupped his hands against her sticky face and wiped off the sparkling trails dropping off at the end of her rounded chin. That 'oughta shut the bitch up for a second. She pulled back first with a frown tugging her face down, sure was ugly when she cried.

"Everyone hates me." She muttered quietly, pressing onto his hands with her own. Shit. Sometimes, looking into those eyes made him forget why she drove him so crazy. Then she opened her mouth again. "And you don't care."

He sighed, "Ami, no one hates you. Hana was only annoyed earlier because you aren't entitled entrance to our home."

"Well, why not!" She interrupted. Kiba removed his touch from her and took a step back, nearly tripping over a mound of dirty grass. He narrowed his eyes in confusion, taking in the entirety of this crazy broad. What the hell was he doing with a person like her?

She stepped forward, following him by pushing her body into his. Kiba felt an unsettling attraction at the catch of her scent, and the conflicting emotions caused him to grimace. She always smelled so good, even after the sweating and running through trees all morning. He hugged her back after some apprehension.

"We're together, right?" She asked, cutting through the silence. He rolled his eyes.

Kiba wasn't much for commitments. He'd only just started his career - his whole life! Why did anyone get married anyway? Especially those in the business he and Ami were getting into, it made more sense to keep their options open and have fun. Ninja weren't known for their long lifespans, save for the occasional safe player or genius, neither of which applied to him. He knew already, someday he'd die for an important cause. Starting a family seemed foolish, though perhaps he just wasn't mature enough to understand.

Whatever. He didn't care.

He hugged onto her tightly, speaking through her aromatic hair into her ear, "When we started this thing, I thought we both agreed we wouldn't be attached that way…" she jerked her head away from him and pushed back on his chest.

"Kiba, that was forever ago. I can't do it anymore if you aren't going to commit a little." She spoke not like a psycho maniac. Of course, that's what someone with feelings would want. That was also one of the many things they didn't share in common.

"Right now isn't a good time for me," How cliché. He'd make it up to her later. Maybe tonight he'd sneak her out and bring her somewhere nice, in public, then maybe she'd be in the mood to party later. After thinking it over for half a second, Kiba decided he'd rather have her than nobody. "Let's go out tonight, then we'll talk about it."

"So you're just gonna let your sister treat me that way? Your mutts almost attacked me and you won't apologize? I don't get it." She turned from him and swayed her hips as she walked away. He growled audibly.

"I'll talk to her, Ami. Just try to understand, it's not right to walk into someone's house without permission. Especially when there are guard dogs." His sister's Haimaru brothers weren't the most friendly toward strangers who were intruding their territory. It surprised him that they hadn't torn her to shreds by the time Hana caught her attempting to break in their front door in this morning.

"Fine. Guess I'll see you tonight then." Ami twirled to face her boy with a grin and disappeared into the trees, making him wonder if he'd just been played.

 _So. Sick. Of. Girls!_

 _xxx_

Kiba had a perpetual scowl set on his face. It twisted incredulously, his bottom lip pouting outward impossibly far. His eyes slit into terrifying thin lines and his nostrils flared uncontrollably. Ever so slowly, he reached upward, hands clamped tightly onto his fuzzy hood.

"Naruto." He growled deeply as he pulled the hood over his line of sight. He crossed his arms in a resentful huff, throwing his head back against the tree behind him. Just speaking the kid's name aloud left a bitter after-taste.

Kiba's ears twitched at the sound of his mocking laughter. Nails on a chalkboard would have been preferable to the annoying variations in his pitch.

He wanted to murder Uzumaki - or at least hurt him. Really bad. Just to get that idiot to shut the fuck up.

Apparently, Team 7 had just returned from a dangerous mission. A real honest to god, _not_ D rank, mission. The plentiful low ranks were not cutting it anymore for the impatient young man. Kiba's teeth ground as his jaw tightened, lips pulling back into an ugly snarl. He never cared much for the other team before, but now he loathed them.

Normally he wasn't in such a piss mood. Naruto had just been the final straw to top off the already shit-day.

This morning's training sucked. Hinata was more than slightly frustrating and he may have lost his temper during their spar. He never meant to hurt her, all he ever did was care about her! She just needed a little push- or maybe he just needed to work on his patience like Kurenai sensei said…but whatever. The girl needed help and she failed, ended up getting herself hurt. He'd take it back over and over if he could. Including Akamaru, it was painfully obvious how disappointed his teammates were.

Of course he couldn't forget how Ami was being a royal bitch this morning. And that was saying something, considering that insult was banned from his family's household.

"Um…Kiba?"

His angry eyes jerked up toward his questioning teammate, who's tightly bandaged arms hugged around her body.

"Shouldn't we be, I- I don't know, congratulating Naruto?" Of course. Hinata to the rescue for her precious Naruto.

He scoffed, turning his head back down hatefully at his fellow graduates. Through the mass of leaves he could see Naruto stick his tongue out at Shikamaru and Choji. Sasuke kept his eyes closed, donning a subtle smirk on his face with Ino clinging to his side. Sakura beamed proudly, looking as if she were standing 10 feet taller than the rest.

Fiery jealously scorched his insides. What the hell made them so special?

He wouldn't have cared so much if it were any other team, hell, Sasuke and Sakura weren't even that bad. Just entitled and annoying…but at least he had some respect for them.

It was Naruto. That incompetent brat had no right to brag so much about 'kicking ass' during his first real battle.

Kiba groaned loudly, ignoring the fact that his teammates could observe all of his tactless behavior.

How did that idiot manage to survive a deadly fight anyway? Against a rogue ninja? Must have been Kakashi's fight. His mouth twitched into a near smirk at the thought. Kiba wouldn't have bothered listening to the story anyway. Naruto was notorious for embellishment, chances were they didn't even have a fight the whole trip. It should have just been a standard escort mission, right? He held in the urge to spit in their direction as the voices began to fade.

Kiba felt a tickling underneath his chin as Akamaru peeked out of his coat. The puppy growled quietly with each quick breath, mirroring Kiba's jealously.

He pat the little dog's head, "That should have been our mission." His harsh words cut through the tense air.

Hinata winced, annoying Kiba further.

"That's not entirely true." his even more, _if that were possible_ , quiet teammate Shino spoke up.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "What?"

Shino remained unmoved, he was like a slightly-more-vocal statue… which was stupidly accurate since Kiba rarely saw his mouth move as he spoke. "We wouldn't have gotten that mission. Even if we beat Team 7 to the administrators."

"Oh really." Kiba annunciated each dry word.

Hinata glanced back and forth between her bickering teammates. Her lip quivered and mouth parted slightly, as if to add something to the argument.

"What do you think, Hinata?" Kiba bantered, her mouth snapped shut. "Shino's got it wrong, doesn't he?"

Hinata looked down, digging her chin into her chest. "I don't know." A small pang of guilt wormed its way into Kiba's gut.

That girl could be so ridiculous. Someday he'd get her to fight for herself- maybe. Until then…Fine. He'd just keep his opinions to himself. Not like anyone bothered to agree with them anyway. Why was everyone in the leaf village such an ass?

Kiba slid off the large branch quietly, not bothering to say goodbye to his team. He landed softly on the ground, and hustled far away. Opposite from the group of friends reminiscing about their time in the land of water, of course.

 _-xxxxx-_

"Good morning, sir!"

Ibiki Morino slouched sideways in his chair, glaring heinously at the stacks of paper landing on his desk.

The petite assistant scuttled away quickly; delivering piles of paperwork upon anyone's offices she could slip her convoluted self in. Ibiki moved no more than an inch since she'd came and went - delivering a copy of Kakashi's, surprisingly _not_ -overdue, report. The man craned his head up toward the ticking clock. He'd dare to admit it was actually early.

He rubbed abrasively all over his face and straightened out his posture, taking little comfort in his more than spacious office as he prepared for his upcoming 'appointment'. He clenched onto a mug of black liquid and drowned his impending groan with scalding coffee.

The jonin had nearly zero sleep the past few days; even during the slower times of year the paperwork never seemed to let up. Along with a partner, he could work continuously for weeks straight and probably still find more work left to do. He had been home a total of ten hours the past three days, just trying to catch up. Ibiki may have been a genius in the art of torture, but having to read and write the necessary reports was a cruel punishment of its own.

He quirked an eyebrow at the thought, _maybe he'd force his next adversary to fill out their own paperwork._ Another vicious gulp of coffee scorched down his esophagus as he pondered, almost insane enough to half-consider the idea.

But not quite. Plus, It'd take a considerably longer amount of time to get the work up to his ridiculous standards… mores the reason for each tower of jobs littering his work space. The human 'fine-toothed comb' could detect the slightest lapse of quality, he couldn't afford to make any mistakes in his line of work. That essential habit flowed over to other aspects of his job description, including desk work (not that he enjoyed it any more). So no. That plan didn't sound very good at all. _He wasn't a goddamn babysitter_.

The bored man stretched out his arm sluggishly and flicked up the corner of the fresh set of files, sending cascades of paper off his desk.

"Beautiful."

He pressed his fingers into the pressure building underneath his sinus. This office shit is what caused him to suffer those daily migraines, no question about it. Granted, the hokage paid him quite well for his irregular and interminable schedule.

All of the mind-numbing paperwork: it was well worth the wage, and he deserved it too. He was good, damn good, at his job. So much so he'd had to learn when to appropriately reign in on the mind games. More than a handful of times he'd gotten innocent, well somewhat innocent, enemies to confess to uncommitted crimes worthy of decapitation. The burly man sighed with a hint of grin on his face. That was just for fun.

No one outside of the force asked him about his tactics, most people were content knowing he could be relied on for getting the job done, and that's it. If, god forbid, civilians were to witness the worst of what he was capable of, it would make any sort of personal relationships with them impossible.

Professional affairs aside, Ibiki could be an entirely separate fun-loving, easygoing person. Of course, he was human too. A human who enjoyed delicious food, cunning entertainment, copious amounts of caffeine, oh and a little undercover people watching definitely sat atop the list. He could go on and on about what he'd rather do than read reports, but he needed to know what to expect- from the person sitting in the room across the building.

He scratched at his chin, snagging his glove every so often on the stiff stubble and rough scarred skin. With a frown on his face, he glanced over at the photo of a young woman lying on the floor beside his chair. His fingers stilled on his chin contemplatively.

He was getting too old for this.

Age itself wasn't the issue here. If he weren't K.I.A. before, he probably had at least 35 good years left before he'd retire. Instead it was the long disputed realization as the years passed, Ibiki Morino, called 'sadist' behind his back as long as he could remember, had a growing soft spot for younger females.

The man scoffed, gripping the arms of his chair tightly. "Soft." He hissed through his teeth. That word alone could invoke hostility.

Just because they were female didn't mean they were any less dangerous, he knew this from experience. Even so, statistically speaking, there were obvious hints of leniency in his actions toward women.

Ibiki efficiently buried the small shred of pity he automatically had for the girl. She'd very likely been trained to appear scared and helpless under these circumstances. It would be foolish not to work those charming features: The constant upturn of her eyebrows, the slight frown tugging at the corners of her mouth, and those expressive bronze eyes…He didn't buy into those big ol' doe-eyes for a fucking second.

Now irritated, Ibiki left his chair to gather the disorganized files off the scuffed linoleum. It was about time he get the report read and over with. Another large swig of coffee left an empty mug thrown across the table as he flipped open the file of the girl known as Kaiya Yuki.

 _-xxxxx-_

A fiery sunset cast it's warm glow through the chalky, elongated window. Threads of dancing light seemed to widen the stale room, inhabited by a narrow wooden table with a few occupied chairs. Gray walls and floor were barren of any decorative distractions, save for a set of irritating fluorescent balls on each side of the only exit. How boring.

The young woman held back a desire to yawn, fighting against her blurring vision. Her eyes focused in and out on the two silent men sitting in front of her. She settled her gaze on the morphing sunlight on the wall opposite of the window. It took every shred of discipline to not immediately pass out on the table. There was no time to sleep yet. She needed to be alert; to expect the worst scenario.

Before her 'visitors' arrived, Kaiya spent the entire day stranded in there. She silently thanked whomever it was that transferred her into the room with the view. The peaceful landscape helped calm her fraying nerves, keeping her mind off of the insidious anxiety and pestering hunger.

It was beautiful outside, she wasn't used to seeing such bright colors which accompanied the leaf village. Most of Kaiya's life she had been surrounded by either gray fog or dark rainy clouds. She rarely got to witness the true beauty the sun could yield; but there was little time to admire the quaint atmosphere of the Kohonagakure. Her lips tightened into an expressionless line, careful to maintain her reserve.

Her wandering eyes froze, having been captured by the intimidating gaze of the shinobi in front of her. Dammit. Her lip twitched slightly under the mounting pressure. Two ninja in front of her remained quiet and still, observing her behavior and micro-reactions. Annoyance nagged at the back of her exhausted mind. These people were pros against a child, and it sucked.

Kaiya had expected this "interview" to happen. She'd mentally prepared herself for days already, yet her breath unintentionally quickened. The way this case had been described to her so long ago: she hadn't expected it to be so accurate. Her stoney guise hid the nauseating wave that twisted inside her gut. She hadn't expected herself to react this way. If she didn't appear calm, they would think she was hiding something.

She'd never felt this threatened by a jonin's eyes alone, the one other jonin she'd met was Zabuza who's eyes only demanded respect. Then Kakashi came along; but he had the sort of warmth to his eyes nearly on par with Haku.

This one sitting in front of her would not hear her out easily.

Kaiya cursed herself for not taking the counter tactics she'd learned more seriously and silently prayed she was able to handle the leaf ninja in front of her, but she could already feel herself crumble underneath a weight of uncertainty. The soundless, scarred man would witness everything; his dull eyes then flickered over her body quickly, making Kaiya feel somehow violated. This bastard was going to make her admit to something that isn't true!

Just don't say anything that could be considered incriminating.

He would most likely understand exactly what she was thinking, judging only her posture and subtle body movements. Even though it was beginning to dim in the room, he'd be sure to see the thin line of sweat begin to bead on her forehead. She wouldn't dare move to wipe it off.

Careful to relax her jaw, she pressed the tip of her tongue against the back of her teeth, intending to scrap along a jagged edge to alleviate her mind from the torturous silence. It was the only way she could distract herself now, not knowing what he was going to do or say. It made her feel powerless, though she wouldn't express that on her face. They'd stripped her of any weapons to defend herself with. Only a precautionary measure she agreed to when she asked to speak to the Hokage.

Her eyelid twitched unintentionally and she had had it. This silence needed to end.

"Is this how your village treats all of it's vulnerable refugees?" She instantly bit her tongue. Taking on such a defensive standpoint was reckless. Hopefully the man could see in her eyes how scared she really was. How desperate she was to have Kakashi as her new mentor. If she failed, it would mean the end. Haku had opened her eyes to the potential she carried; now that he was gone, she had nothing left but a dark world to return to. Assuming she could escape her new tormentor.

A hearty laugh roared from across the table, making Kaiya blink in surprise. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as the shinobi's partner shook his head empathically. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably as he adjusted the clip board in his hands, all while scrawling notes over the page.

"Interesting choice of words," her attention was brought back to the scarred man, "but we'd hardly consider you a vulnerable refugee." His posture slacked, easing the tension in the room slightly. He rested his elbow on the table, chin lounged on the back of his curled hand, "I'm going to be honest right now, dear. Based on your previous company, I'm having a difficult time convincing myself to not execute you right here." After delivering the stunning threat he leaned backward and crossed his arms smugly, "We've got a long way to go before I ever consider granting your absurd request."

A sharp pain of hopelessness shot through her chest, causing her to lean in toward the table, crossing her arms into an X over her chest. Kaiya blinked again and frowned, confused by the man's body language contrasting his dialogue. What's going on? Was he provoking her?

"I understand you don't know me very well, and I can't tell you to trust me based on my word alone," her voice tapered off. She was digging herself into a hole. "But your village owes me." She growled.

"Uh huh, this is gonna be good." He sneered.

"My grandfather hired your men for a simple escort mission. Then they killed my sensei; my only biological family!" The man bore his eyes into her.

He held his hand up. "Wait, wait, no."

"I'm n-!"

"Try again, sweetheart." His voice boomed over her accusations.

"Your grandfather- lets ignore the fact he lied to us which could have gotten all of you killed. Tazuna needed protection. From your sensei."

"It's not so black and white." Kaiya hung her head. Being reminded of how terribly they'd been taken advantage of, how she could have lost Tazuna to people she put her trust in. It was too much to bear anymore.

Her chest tightened uncomfortably, "I hate Zabuza for what he did. It's so hard." She gasped. "So hard for me to forgive Haku for defending his cause."

Nobody spoke as she doubled over. Her body trembled as her breath became jagged, irregular.

"It was just a job to them." She looked up at the jonin through dry eyes. "I reject what they've done, but I will do anything to make myself the strongest I can. If I had gotten the chance to tell them sooner who their target really was…maybe this would have turned out differently."

"So tell me." He deadpanned. "What's going to stop you from assassinating your sensei's killer when you get your hands on him?" Her body conveniently collapsed over the table, giving in to total exhaustion.

The man stood abruptly, causing his chair to scoot hideously against the floor. He glared over her figure once more before signaling to his partner that they were done for now.

Once again, Kaiya was left all alone.

* * *

 **AN:** Throughout the story I've made the characters a bit older, I don't like the idea of teenagers going from nothing to gods within a couple years, haha. Thanks for taking the time to read. I'd really appreciate your feedback, especially constructive criticism.


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